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How to Handle a "Buyer Hasn't Paid" Situation on Depop

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How to Handle a "Buyer Hasn't Paid" Situation on Depop

As a reseller, few things are as frustrating as securing a sale only to have the payment never arrive. An unpaid item on Depop can feel like a waste of time and effort, holding up your inventory and delaying your income. It's a common hurdle, but understanding the platform's process and having the right tools can make it a minor bump instead of a major roadblock.

This guide will walk you through exactly what happens when a Depop buyer doesn't pay, what steps you can take to troubleshoot payment issues, and how you can streamline your entire operation to make these situations less impactful on your business.

We'll cover the keywords every Depop seller needs to know: what to do with a "depop buyer hasn't paid" issue, how the platform handles an "unpaid item depop," and the exact steps for "what to do if buyer doesn't pay depop."

Understanding Depop's Unpaid Item Process for Offers

One of the most common scenarios for an unpaid item on Depop involves the "Make an Offer" feature. When you accept an offer, the sale isn't yet final.

The buyer is notified immediately that you have accepted their proposed price. From that moment, a 24-hour clock starts.

The buyer has exactly 24 hours to complete the transaction by officially purchasing the item at the agreed-upon price. If the buyer does not complete the purchase and pay within that timeframe, the accepted offer simply expires. The item remains in your shop, available for other customers to buy.

In this specific case of an accepted offer, there is no further action required from you as the seller. The system handles the expiration automatically, freeing the item up for the next potential buyer.

What to Do When Your Depop Payment is Missing

Sometimes the issue isn't an unpaid offer, but a completed sale where the money hasn't appeared in your bank account. If a buyer has paid but you haven't received the funds, it's time to do some troubleshooting. Depop advises that if you haven't been paid into your account 10 business days after a sale, you should start by checking your payment details.

Step 1: Check Your Depop Balance

Your first stop should be your Depop Balance within the app. This is where you can view your latest transactions and see your upcoming payouts. The way to access it differs slightly based on your device.

  • On iOS: Open the Depop app, tap 'My Depop', go to 'Settings', and then select 'Depop balance'.
  • On Android: Open the Depop app, tap the 'Selling Hub', select the 'Payments' tab, and then tap 'Depop balance'.

Reviewing your transaction history here will confirm if Depop has registered the sale and initiated a payout.

Step 2: Verify Your Payment and Account Settings

If your Depop Balance looks correct but the money still isn't in your bank after 10 business days, the next step is to dive into your Payment settings within the app. Several small issues can cause a payment to fail or be delayed.

Run through this checklist to ensure everything is set up correctly:

  • Is a bank account connected? You must have a bank account linked to receive payouts.
  • Is the correct bank account connected? Double-check that the last four digits shown under your Connected bank account match your actual bank account number. An old or incorrect account is a common reason for missing payments.
  • Is your account verified? Depop may require you to provide some form of ID to verify your account before releasing funds. Check for any notifications or prompts asking for verification.
  • Are you under 18? If you are under 18, Depop requires a parent or guardian to verify the account with their details on your behalf. Ensure this step has been completed.
  • Is your Depop balance negative? If you recently issued a refund, your Depop balance could be negative. You will not be able to receive payouts until the balance is no longer negative. To prevent this in the future, you can connect a top-up card.

Step 3: Troubleshooting PayPal Payments

If you use PayPal to sell on Depop, the potential issues are slightly different. If a payment isn't showing up in your PayPal account, it could be due to a couple of common reasons.

First, you may have used incorrect details when linking your PayPal account. Second, your PayPal account may not be fully verified. PayPal has its own verification process that must be completed to receive payments.

For any issues related to receiving payments via PayPal, Depop advises users to head directly to PayPal for more information and support on how to get paid.

Scale Your Resale Business and Minimize Hassles with Reeva

Dealing with unpaid items and chasing down payment details can be a significant drain on your time—time that could be spent sourcing, listing, and growing. As your resale business scales, these small administrative tasks multiply, threatening to overwhelm your schedule. This is where having a powerful platform partner becomes essential.

We built Reeva specifically to help resale businesses accelerate their growth and scale with ease. Our all-in-one platform simplifies and automates the most time-consuming parts of selling online, giving you back the time to focus on what truly matters.

Don't just take our word for it. Nuzzydeals saw a 7x increase in sales after implementing our tools, and Vintage Vault increased their items sold by over 372% in just three weeks. These are the kinds of results that come from optimizing your workflow.

Ready to see how we can transform your business? Start your free 7-day trial today.

Sell Smarter and Faster Across All Marketplaces

The key to minimizing the impact of a single failed sale on one platform is to be successful on many. We make multichannel selling effortless.

With our platform, you can turn photos into complete listings instantly. Just upload your images, and we'll create optimized titles, descriptions, and prices for you. Then, you can publish your items to all your marketplaces—including Poshmark, eBay, Mercari, and Depop—with a single click. No more switching tabs or copying and pasting.

FabFam, a reseller based in Washington, notes, "Reeva has cut my listing time by more than half. I can take photos, voice-to-text my details, and let Reeva handle the rest... By the time I put the item away, my listing is ready to go live."

Save Time with Powerful Automation

Imagine your business running itself. Our automation tools make it a reality. We can automatically share your products on Poshmark to boost visibility, send personalized offers to interested buyers, and relist stale products to keep them at the top of search results—all without you lifting a finger.

Crucially, our system instantly delists sold items across all platforms to prevent overselling. This is a game-changer for multichannel sellers. AlistairBP from Georgia told us, "The feature I use 100% the most—and couldn't live without—is the AUTO-DELIST feature."

Grow Your Business with Ease

Growth requires more than just listing and selling; it requires smart management. Our platform provides the tools you need to scale effectively. You can update and manage hundreds of listings in bulk, track sales and profits with powerful business analytics, and even give team members access with multi-user account options.

We even offer full-service accounting. Connect your bank accounts, and we'll automatically record transactions, expenses, and fees. You can categorize income and generate clear profit and loss reports to make smarter business decisions. As TUFFNY from New York said, "I've cut down my admin time by at least 30%, which has allowed me to source more products and expand my offerings."

How Reeva Helps You Overcome Depop Challenges

While Depop's system automatically handles an expired offer, the time your item was held up is a real cost to your business. An item tied up in a 24-hour pending sale is an item that another paying customer can't buy. Our platform helps mitigate this in several key ways.

Maximize Visibility, Minimize Downtime

When an offer on Depop expires, you want to get that item back in front of as many eyes as possible, as quickly as possible. With our cross-listing capabilities, that item is already live on multiple other platforms like Poshmark, Mercari, and eBay. A non-paying buyer on one marketplace becomes insignificant when you're reaching thousands of other potential buyers elsewhere.

As Hiview Reloved shared, our platform "has made it easy to expand to eBay and Depop. I’ve created more listings in the few months of using Reeva than I was able to create all of last year when trying to do it on my own."

Focus on Growth, Not on Frustration

Every minute you spend checking payment statuses or worrying about an unpaid item is a minute you're not spending on high-value activities. Our system automates the tedious work. With features like AI listing creation, automated delisting, and built-in accounting, we handle the administrative burden.

This frees you up to focus on sourcing great inventory, engaging with customers, and making strategic decisions for your business. When you have a system that works for you 24/7, you can move past the frustration of a single non-sale and focus on the dozens of other sales you're making.

TUFFNY's experience perfectly captures this shift: "Managing inventory and listings across multiple platforms used to feel like juggling too much. Now, with real-time inventory syncing and automated listing updates, I don't have to worry about overselling or spending hours manually tracking stock."

Stop letting small setbacks dictate your workflow. Try Reeva for free and experience the power of automation.

Your Partner in Resale Growth

Navigating a "buyer hasn't paid" situation on Depop is straightforward once you know the process. For accepted offers, the system automatically expires the deal after 24 hours. For missing payouts on completed sales, a thorough check of your payment settings will almost always reveal the issue.

However, the real solution to growing a resilient and profitable resale business isn't just knowing how to handle these minor issues—it's building a system where they have a minimal impact on your bottom line. By expanding to multiple marketplaces and automating your workflow, you create a business that is always moving forward.

We designed our platform to be that system. From AI-powered listings and one-click cross-listing to full automation and integrated accounting, we provide everything you need to grow your resale business in one place. Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or managing a team, we have the tools to help you save time, increase sales, and scale with confidence.

Ready to stop juggling platforms and start growing your business? Start your free 7-day trial of Reeva today.

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